24 Nov Aviation Communities: Letter to The Telegraph
A letter was today published in The Telegraph, calling on government to take urgent action to support aviation communities across the UK. It was signed by a group of Council Leaders, MPs, Business leaders and Higher Education institutions – the full list follows the letter.
Dear sir,
The collapse of the aviation industry during this pandemic is resulting in lower economic output for the whole country. Colossal damage is being done to thousands of businesses which, directly or indirectly, rely on aviation.
The decline of Britain’s aviation industry will diminish Britain’s ability to trade with the world which is the foundation of economic recovery. The impact will be felt by regional airports which will struggle to survive, choking regional economies.
But the forgotten casualties of aviation’s collapse are the hundreds of thousands of people across the UK whose livelihoods depend on it, from Heathrow and Gatwick to Birmingham, Derbyshire and Manchester.
Work by Oxford Economics suggests the cost to the local economy from reduced operations at Heathrow at £4billion, with direct job losses of around 28,000 – 31% of the pre-pandemic total – by the end of 2021. The International Air Transport Association (IATA) have looked at the wider impact of the collapse of air traffic across different sectors and this calculated a potential loss of 733,000 jobs and £51.4 billion in GDP across the British economy by the end of 2021.
Government must take urgent action to support aviation communities across the UK. As a first step, it should establish an Aviation Communities Fund for targeted investment in training, reskilling, low carbon jobs and local infrastructure which would support wider recovery to enable Britain to build back better — and greener.
The aviation industry is being torn apart by the pandemic; we cannot allow the same fate for the local communities which rely on it. The Government should follow its own maxim that a stitch in time saves nine.
Sincerely,
Sir Richard Leese, Leader of Manchester City Council
Cllr Barry Lewis, Leader of Derbyshire County Council
Cllr Chris Poulter, Leader of Derby City Council
Cllr Nicholas Ruston, Leader of Leicestershire County Council
Cllr Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council
Professor Julia Buckingham CBE, Vice-Chancellor and President of Brunel University
Richard Burge, Chief Executive of London Chamber of Commerce
Kate Nichols, Chair of UK Hospitality
Jamie Ratcliff, Executive Director at Network Homes
Professor Richard Templer, Director of Innovation at the Grantham Institute, Imperial College London
Ian Wright CBE, Chief Executive of the Food and Drink Federation
Bob Blackman MP for Harrow East
Ruth Cadbury MP for Brentford & Isleworth
Rupa Huq, MP for Ealing Central & Acton
Seema Malhotra MP for Feltham & Heston
Virendra Sharma MP for Ealing Southall
Henry Smith MP for Crawley
Andy Slaughter MP for Hammersmith
Gareth Thomas MP for Harrow West
Cllr Julian Bell, Leader of Ealing Council
Cllr Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council
Cllr Stephen Cowan, Leader of Hammersmith & Fulham
Cllr Steve Curran, Leader of Hounslow Council
Cllr Martyn Ford, Leader of South Derbyshire District Council
Cllr Graham Henson, Leader of Harrow Council
Tracy Aust, Chair of West London Principals
Andrew Dakers, Chief Executive of West London Business
Darren Mepham, Chief Executive of Barnet and Southgate College